dre_8

The Adventures of "Taxi"

Last night my gf, another friend and I are driving home from a party (party was a great lingerie theme and very fun, but that's a different story). It's around 3:30 am at the intersection of Oak and 25th when we see a guy shooing away what looks to be a small dog. He then quickly jumps into a cab and slams the door in the dogs face. The cab speeds off leaving a little female pug in the middle of the road.

I pull over and we get the little girl into the car and she seems really calm. In fact the whole way home (minus a quick stop to drop off the friend, and pick up some dog food and chew bone at 7 eleven) she was very good and just sat there. We all decided that "taxi" was a good name for her during our guardianship. Taxi was on her best behaviour while we took her into my house and set up her little fort in my kitchen (her shit and pee box). After giving her something to eat and chew on we figured it would be ok to go to bed. Of course right when we're out of eye shot she flips out.

Long story short, we wake up this morning with almost no sleep, gerry rig a leash and take her for a walk before dropping her at the animal shelter. I hope the original owner's find her, I know these dogs are worth upwards of 1.5G's so I don't want any fuckers trying to scam little Taxi.

My first taste of dog ownership and I don't think I'd do it again, but I would probably go for a boxer if I did. I'm not a huge fan of toy dogs although taxi was a big cutie for the 10hrs she was in our lives.

(taxi below beside my snowboard which we used as a gate)

http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=6184680728064832823

audi R8 hill climb

What: Vegas Trip

When: Dec 14-17

Who: at least 13 of my nutty friends

Why: Vicki's "unofficial" stagette

Gonna be nuts, if you're in the area hook up.

This summer has been a good one...

Work:
Work has been busy, being self employed means no real time off, but more flexibility to do what you want, when you want (ie: golf). Just finished a project where I had to deal with an extremely anal graphics designer where I was in charge of all the coding. Not that I mind revisions when I'm being paid hrly, but I don't like seeing clients being charged for shit that 99% of the ppl won't even notice. Oh well, site's up now and everything is good.

In the working-smarter-not-harder area of things - I have begun the steps to bring on some ppl to work for me in the near future. The flow of work is getting a bit too much, but I need to maintain quality and service moving forward so hiring the right people is the key. Installed some great project management sofware on my server recently to handle the HR tracking and planning side of things. If anyone is looking for one check out DOTproject. Still have to set up an automated 1-800 number to funnel calls, and makes some updates to my website.

Investing:
After much research I've gone with Tradefreedom.ca as my online brokerage. If you're looking for a discount one in Canada I think it's the way to go. The platform is the standard one that seems to be resold and skinned by other brokerages (a la online poker sites), and trades cost 9.95 + ECN fees, which is the lowest you can currently get in Canada (I think interactive brokers is lower, but without the user-friendliness).

Sports:
Sports are finally over after my vball and 2 roller hockey teams ended their seasons. The vball tournament we put on with our friends (last weekend) grew again this year to 12 teams, probably going to get even bigger next year. Going to rest up for the remainder of the summer after tweaking my hip pretty badly in hockey. Whistler provincial vball and golf (and a little tennis) are all that's left. Speaking of the latter, my par quest is good (for the last 9 holes I've played) after shooting a 1-under 35 on the back nine at Northlands. Ok so I shot a 46 on the front (9 over on 3 holes haha), but I did get my 3rd Eagle this year so I was pretty happy. Making pars with relative ease, now if I can only cut out the 1-2 "others" I'll be golden.

Take care all...

You think Tiger is not a machine?

http://www.nike.com/nikegolf/swingportrait/

Just booked a Winetour/Golf/Spa trip with the lil lady in a couple weeks, can't wait.

I've decided that this year I must break par on a regulation golf course. It's a joke that I haven't done it yet in 15 years of playing the game. My long game has been showing lots of promise lately, but everyone knows it always comes down to the putting. I'll scan the scorecard and post it live when it happens haha.

This is one of the better playoff seasons that I can remember. I think both the NBA, and especially the NHL, have raised their games to a much more entertaining level.

Phoenix Suns - They keep tricking teams into playing their style of game. You know when the score is 64 - 62 at half time that the suns will probably end up on top. Dallas should win this series and the championship, but I think there is a mental advantage that Nash has over dirk. Anyone see that nike add for Nash? They have some serious Ad Wizards over there. In the other series, Detroit looks uninterested and Miami looks hungry (it also helps having Antoine Walker as a 3rd scoring option) - MIA in 6.

Hurricanes/Sabres - This series is amazing. 2 great young goalies, tons of speed, tons of hitting. The games in this series are never over until the final whistle blows. This one should go 7.

Edmonton - It would be nice to see a Canadian team win the cup. I think everyone forgot how good these guys were on paper. It really started showing when Peca (this round) and Pronger stepped it up for the playoffs. Kevin Lowe looks like a genius for picking up Roloson for a 1st Rounder.

The December babies birthday party turned out wicked. For those of you that don't know, in my close friend crew we have 6 ppl (me included) whose bdays are in December. Instead of having a party for everyone seperatly (which would make me blow my head off), we just do one big (often themed) party for all. I was sick on party night, but still had a great time....kinda glad I wasn't at 100% else it may have gotten ugly. The back room at Shine was a perfect spot...good size, great DJ, bartender was awesome. No complaints at all. You pretty much know you have a good party on your hand when someone gets kicked out for having sex in the bathroom. Nice to see Randy and Jay make it out too.

Made this collage of the night...sorry if I'm missing a bunch of ppl, but I only had 3 ppl's picks to choose from... can't wait for the rest as I have to get my ass to work.

My website that a buddy and I started (FSUlandsales.com) recently got a listing for a Golf Property on Vancouver Island. Details can be seen here:

http://www.fsulandsales.com/listingview.php?listingID=12

If you're not from this area, Vancouver Island is one of the hotest real estate markets right now, and with the Olympics coming to Vancouver in 2010 it's not going to burst anytime soon.

We will pay anyone who finds a buyer for the property $15,000 - This is a great peice of real estate for over seas investors. Please contact me for more information.

Thanks

haha you ever feel like doing this? cause I don't, that's fuckin nuts.

After playing golf for 13 yrs, I finally shot par. Got a 54 at Stanley Park Pitch and Putt (after being 4-over through 4 holes). haha. I must have shot 1 or 2 over at pitch and putts about 8-9 times in the past, so feels good to get that magic number. My best on a full course is still 2 over 73, gotta break par on the biggies soon.

Golf is pretty close to done for this year. Hockey season is in full swing, and as I walked to my car this sunny morning, the frost covered mountains where calling me to yank the board out of storage.

1994 Pointbreak, 2005 I finally go surfing...Jer's pics inspired me to put this up

Wow, Europe was fantastic. I have to say (and those who know me will cuncur) that I'm not a big "family" person. Being that my parents here are divorced, and the ENTIRE rest of the family is 1000's of miles away does not help. Seeing everyone again definitely brought me back to my roots (at least a little bit), and it was very surreal. I also saw first hand how smaller economies are getting their asses kicked in the EU expansion. Good thing is it'll all be over in 10 yrs or so, and I'll end up with my EU passport. Bad thing being the rural towns will have to deal with extreme price increases, without the corresponding salary increases for the duration. The price some people have to pay for "progress".

On a more cheery yet depressing note (ya that makes sense), I just got off webcam with my friend from Calgary. I was supposed to be there this weekend for the Stampede, but being a "try new things first" type person, I decided to go surfing for the first time in two weeks instead. My decision looked stupid when I saw my friend's HOT friend with her - man I miss the Calgary chicks. I could have been staying with them both (my friend is not too sore on the eyes either). Oh well I'm gonna surf the shit out of the Pacific ocean haha.

Been playing alot of live poker over the past 5-6 months. My bigger ($20-50 buy in) tourneys are with a bunch of what I'd call "seasoned" players, all of whom regular the casino. For my part, I've managed to stay away from the River Rock Casino, along with heroin and crystal meth, Vancouver's newest addition to tearing lives apart. However, Monday I thought I'd head on down with one of my buddies, who I'd consider a casino veteran and very solid player, to play in a 60 man, $20 + 3 NL tourney.

The first thing I noticed when I got there were what I can only affectionately call the "poker nerds". Guys with blazers fronting "partypoker.com" tee's, sunglasses, and basically the entire WPT fall season collection. Of course most of these guys were the first one's out, or the guys giving stupid advice to the other players. Second thing I noticed was the 3-4 attractive female players that were in the tournament. At one point I had one cutie with over half of her stack in against me. I knew I had the best hand, and I semi-let her off-the-hook by pushing all in. That was the only time I showed my hole cards all night. It wasn't cause she was a girl, if she was a strong player I would have tried to take her out, I just want the weaker players to enjoy the game and play longer, they'll eventually be taken out. Sure enough her pocket kings were cracked 2 hands later. Third thing I noticed was the generally poor level of play. I think any intimidation I felt wore off 10 minutes into the tourney after a couple cheesy plays I made worked out without any contest. The play improved a bit as we approached the final table, but I realized that the guys in my home games are actually half as good as their big mouths spout off =).

So if you've read this far, you're probably assuming I won, or placed. Well you'd be wrong. I did make the final table, but made one terrible play before the final merge and was short stacked. About 6 hands in with only 9 players left I called an all in bet infront of me with pocket 9's....as I thought buddy had AQ offsuit, a classic 50/50 race. He caught his ace and that was that. BTW only the top 5 placed paid out. Definitely some good casino experience, and I'll be back after I return. Speaking of which I"m heading to Europe on Saturday for a month to see my family and "get back to my roots" so to speak. I'll surely post something when I return. Have a good early summer everyone.

For the past 5-6 months I've been off of LJ as far as the posting side is concerned (other then the web design group). Still enjoy(ed) reading and keeping up with most of my friends posts, but xanga sorta pulled me in as the blog of choice. Quick Update:

Incorporated my company
Going to Europe this Summer
3 friends had babies
1 awesome ski trip
2 near relationships turned friends
A little bit of Texas Holdem
1 semi fallout

That's about it. I'll be back, just like Arnie baby.

Take Care

Maybe it's because I picked a really long password, and I'm too lazy to change it. Or maybe it's because updating multiple journal sites takes too much time. Either way, I may be done here on LJ. I did however bring my personal website back to life, click below and enjoy...love you all!

click here